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A Final Bipartisan, Bicameral Push to Go Big

Nov 16, 2011

Today at 10:30 am ET, Republican and Democratic lawmakers from both the House and the Senate will be holding a press conference pushing Go Big in a last-minute call for the Super Committee to exceed their $1.2 trillion mandate. It could not come at a more opportune time as the Super Committee has entered its final week of deliberations, before the Monday night deadline to hand over proposals to the CBO for scoring.

This press conference comes as the capstone to the burgeoning support for Go Big in recent weeks, where bipartisan groups of 100 members of the House and 45 Senators have pushed for $4 trillion in deficit reduction over a 10-year window. These proposals were in addition to the already extensive list of government officials, business leaders, budget experts, economists, and concerned constituents, who have lent their support for a grand bargain on deficit reduction.

As the clock ticks on the super committee, the focus appears to be on attaining a small deficit deal as the only hope of success. As we explained in a blog yesterday, the second round of proposals from both Democrats and Republicans have scaled back their savings targets. We have noted before that this is likely the wrong approach to deficit reduction. We explained in a recent paper that a grand bargain is likely more politically feasible than a nickle-and-dime approach.

We hope that the press conference today will serve as a final demonstration of widespread bicameral, bipartisan support for a $4 trillion deficit reduction plan. Additionally, we hope it will give lawmakers the political cushion necessary to Go Big with a plan that puts our long-term fiscal house in order and signals to the rest of the world that we are serious about addressing our growing debt problem.